The man who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under former President Jimmy Carter had a somewhat surprising assessment of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin’s future relevance: He’s a martyr to the civil rights cause.
Andrew Young made the claim during a televised appearance on MSNBC with guest host Joy-Ann Reid. Miss Reid wanted to speak about problems in the black community and broached the topic of Trayvon, who was killed by fellow Floridian George Zimmerman. Mr. Zimmerman recently was acquitted of murder charges.
But Trayvon’s name would live on, Mr. Young said, as Mediaite reported. He’s a “martyr” to the civil rights cause, he said, interrupting Miss Reid when she asked whether his killing showcases any larger problem for the black community.
“No,” Mr. Young said on MSNBC. “Trayvon is a martyr. We’ve had a string of martyrs from the time of Emmett Till. Every generation has its martyrs, and they’re going to continue. We lift them up to show that they’re not lost.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Young had this to say about Mr. Zimmerman: His story is “just as much a tragedy [because] his life is ruined over a love of guns and a false sense of what manhood is.”
Emmett Till hailed from Chicago but was murdered at the age of 14 in Mississippi in 1955 for reportedly speaking to a married white woman.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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